After my course of antibiotics ended for my whooping cough, I read that a convalescence period is to be expected for the following two to three weeks, when I would still have cold-like symptoms of coughing, stuffy and runny nose, and phlegm. What I was not actively thinking about was that my back muscles and ribs were sore and bruised from all the coughing and vomiting, which was all exacerbated by the constant laughing from the Jacob-Barber family Christmas celebrations of games and food. Since Christmas festivities typically begin in the family from Christmas Eve through the last full day we are in town, that’s five days of nonstop talking, laughing, and coughing induced by laughing. By last night, my muscles and ribs had flared up so much that it hurt just to speak, so I had to lie down, use Deep Heat and tiger balm, and take anti-inflammatory pills. Then this morning, I woke up at 3am feeling like someone was stabbing me in the right side of my ribs, but it was just the pain of the rib bruising and the desire to vomit that woke me. I coughed up a lot of phlegm over the toilet and wondered what terrible things I’d done in a past life to have this feeling. The center of my throat felt like something was stuck in it, but I couldn’t vomit it out because it hurt my ribs too much to exert that level of effort. It’s like I was stuck in a state of pain that I couldn’t rid myself of, and it was all ultimately exacerbated by laughing and having fun. How masochistic. These are the things you learn about your body when you are really sick. I never thought that I could bruise my ribs or make all my back muscles sore just by coughing before, but here it is.